Connecticut reacts to Metro-North crash

'This isn't about politics. It's real life.'

Martin B. Cassidy

Updated 2:25 pm, Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Sunday morning's derailment of a Metro-North commuter train near the Harlem River that left four New York residents dead and dozens injured amplified the debate in Connecticut about the safety and reliability of the railroad's New Haven Line.

Just over six months ago, the first three cars of a Metro-North train on the New Haven Line derailed in Bridgeport, striking another train headed in the opposite direction. The crash injured 76 people, and the resulting investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board is still ongoing.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said having a second major derailment of a commuter passenger train in the span of a year on Metro-North is yet another reminder that comprehensively addressing the safety of tracks, cars and other equipment on the New Haven Line is a pressing priority.

"The blunt fact is that safety and reliability have to be the No. 1 priority, and so far Metro-North's record of continuing incidents and accidents has raised more questions than they are answering," Blumenthal said.

Photo: Gregg Vigliotti, New York Times

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A police officer looks over a body at the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in New York, Dec. 1, 2013. At least four people were killed and more than 60 injured, 11 critically, officials said. (Gregg Vigliotti/The New York Times) less

A police officer looks over a body at the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in New ... more

Photo: Gregg Vigliotti, New York Times

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Emergency crews and investigators at the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in New York, Dec. 1, 2013. At least four people were killed and more than 60 injured, 11 critically, officials said. (Robert Stolarik/The New York Times) less

Emergency crews and investigators at the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in New ... more

Photo: Robert Stolarik, New York Times

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Bodies, covered in white sheets, lay beside the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in New York, Dec. 1, 2013. At least four people were killed and more than 60 injured, 11 critically, officials said. (Damon Winter/The New York Times) less

Bodies, covered in white sheets, lay beside the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in ... more

Photo: Damon Winter, New York Times

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Emergency crews and investigators at the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in New York, Dec. 1, 2013. At least four people were killed and more than 60 injured, 11 critically, officials said. (Robert Stolarik/The New York Times) less

Emergency crews and investigators at the wreckage of a Metro-North Railroad commuter train after it derailed in the southwest Bronx, across the Hudson River from the northern tip of Manhattan Island in New ... more

Photo: Robert Stolarik, New York Times

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Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a Metro-North passenger train derailment in the Bronx borough of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx on Sunday morning, coming to rest just inches from the water and causing multiple fatalities and dozens of injuries, authorities said. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) less

Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a Metro-North passenger train derailment in the Bronx borough of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx on ... more

Photo: John Minchillo, Associated Press

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An Amtrak train, top, traveling on an unaffected track, passes a derailed Metro-North commuter train, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013 in the Bronx borough of New York. The Metro-North train derailed on a curved section of track early Sunday, coming to rest just inches from the water, killing at least four people and injuring more than 60, authorities said. Police divers searched the waters to make sure no passenger had been thrown in, as other emergency crews scoured the surrounding woods. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) less

An Amtrak train, top, traveling on an unaffected track, passes a derailed Metro-North commuter train, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013 in the Bronx borough of New York. The Metro-North train derailed on a curved section of ... more

Photo: Mark Lennihan, Associated Press

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Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are “multiple injuries” in the train derailment, and 130 firefighters are on the scene. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station. Photo: Edwin Valero, AP less

Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are “multiple injuries” ... more

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Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in the train derailment, and 130 firefighters are on the scene. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station.

Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in

First responders gather around the derailment of a Metro North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Dec. 1, 2013 The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in the train derailment, and 130 firefighters are on the scene. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station. less

First responders gather around the derailment of a Metro North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Dec. 1, 2013 The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in the train ... more

Photo: Craig Ruttle, AP

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Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in the train derailment, and 130 firefighters are on the scene. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station. less

Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in ... more

Photo: Edwin Valero, AP

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Connecticut reacts to Metro-North crash

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At around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, a seven-car train heading south from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to Grand Central Terminal derailed near the Harlem River, killing four passengers and injuring 63 others, 11 of them critically. The accident occurred on a three-track section of the railroad where the speed limit is 30 mph, spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.

The locomotive and several of the cars involved are diesel equipment owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Anders said. Connecticut and New York share cars on occasion when needed, she said. The diesel fleets of Metro-North's lines are interchangeable she said, and Connecticut-owned diesel equipment serviced in the Croton Harmon yard is sometimes used to furnish Hudson line service.

"You will also see, occasionally, Hudson blue-stripe cars on the New Haven Line," Anders said.

Connecticut unaffected

The accident did not impact New Haven Line service on Sunday, and was not expected to have an effect on Monday. The crash won't spur any immediate safety changes to the line's operation, Anders said.

Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesman Judd Everhart declined to comment Sunday on whether riders should be confident in the safety of the New Haven Line, or on the progress of ongoing track repairs, citing the need to determine the cause of the Hudson Line derailment through the NTSB.

"Any speculation about the cause, or the relative safety of any of the lines, is premature, if not irresponsible," Everhart said. "Until the cause is determined, it is also premature to talk about track conditions, previous or ongoing maintenance, speed, or other potential factors."

The Metro-North has not had a good year. The May derailment in Bridgeport was followed less than two weeks later by the death of Robert Luden, a Metro-North foreman. He was struck and killed in West Haven by a passenger train traveling at 70 mph after a student controller reopened the track where Luden was working without the approval of a senior supervisor.

Luden had just requested the section of track be taken out of service for maintenance.

The New Haven Line was crippled yet again on Sept. 24, by a massive power outage after an electrical substation in Mount Vernon, N.Y., failed, severely limiting electric train service for 13 days.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said this latest derailment and loss of life highlights the critical need to assess how to modernize the New Haven and other Northeast corridor lines to ensure safety for commuters and reliability of "a national asset" to support the economy.

"I don't know anymore than anyone else what caused this accident, but the fact remains we're trying to run a 21st century economy with 19th century infrastructure," Himes said. "It's a national asset, and with the amount of economic strength between Washington, D.C., and Boston, it is something which the national government has to help steward."

Customers already jittery

Chris McClave, a New Canaan commuter who has taken Metro-North for four years, said that the Hudson Line crash will increase fears among New Haven Line customers already jittery about the May derailment. In February, McClave was a passenger on a Manhattan-bound train when a grounded-out traction motor filled the passenger compartment of the next car with smoke, sending panicked passengers pushing into the next car.

That train stopped for half an hour before eventually limping into Grand Central Terminal.

"Since that incident, safety has been more top-of-mind than before," McClave said, "and I have much less confidence in the train system than before, especially with the Bridgeport accident and now this accident."

For the past several months, the railroad has imposed speed restrictions on sections of New Haven Line track where needed repairs have been identified. Since June, the Connecticut branch of the railroad has been tackling a vastly expanded list of track repairs and maintenance after inspections by an outside firm found extensive track problems following the May 17 derailment in Bridgeport, Anders said.

At a National Transportation Safety Board hearing in Washington, D.C., last month, Metro-North engineer Robert Puciloski admitted that the five-year cycle of replacement and maintenance on the section of the Bridgeport track had not been fully completed since 2005.

The firm hired to do the inspections, Transportation Technology Center Inc., probed all 770 miles of Metro-North's tracks with ground-penetrating radar and other equipment. The study flagged flaws in the tracks, ties and supporting ballast that for the most part were not detectable by the railroad's standard bi-weekly inspection regimen.

"If a defect is serious, the track is immediately taken out of service until repairs are made," Anders said. "Otherwise, the maximum allowable speed is reduced until the improvements are made."

`Crisis point'

Since the Bridgeport derailment and collision, members of the state's congressional delegation have pressed NTSB Secretary Deborah Hersman to expedite a final report on the cause of the May 17 derailment. On Sunday, Blumenthal said he has begun contacting his fellow lawmakers about how to step up efforts for a spending blueprint to increase safety and reliability on the New Haven and other lines of the nation's second-busiest railroad.

"We are now at a crisis point that has to be confronted by Metro-North, who have inadequately explained how this repeated series of incidents could occur," Blumenthal said. "We have to confront questions about the adequacy of the railroad's equipment, tracks, but also maintenance, repair and overall operations."

Himes said the course lawmakers take might depend on what cause or causes are identified by the NTSB investigation of the Hudson derailment. In the case of the Bridgeport derailment, attention has focused on a piece of track near the crash, where a cracked rail joint was repaired a month before the crash.

"We had preliminary information in Bridgeport very early," Himes said, "and I think when human life and safety is involved, `right away' is not fast enough."